New Ways to Nerd out your Shoes!

Happy New Year! After experimenting and studying a few more ways to tweak a standard pair of shoes, I have come across a few super awesome tutorials, and had a mini brainstorm today followed by a trip to Michael's where pretty much 1/2 the store was on sale. Needless to say I have supplies for a few projects for myself...and you all...but mostly me. I am starting a pair of Deadpool shoes because I am in love with him. Also, I have some nerd inspired room decor coming up!
Back to shoes....(can you tell I have been reading a lot of Deadpool? I start thinking in yellow boxes...) These are a few of the awesome tutorials I have been reading:
Shoe mod using mod podge, glitter, and paint techniques:
GeekFemme's Blog (Also...what an awesome get together idea!)
A glitter tutorial:
Pixie in Pumps
Adding spikes:
Spiked Shoe Tutorial

I had been trying to find a way to do comic shoes with a twist after not being able to put comics all the way up a strappy pair of heels. The flimsy straps do not provide a conducive work area, and you can't just leave a weird blank space. After seeing the glitter tutorials I had solved my problem.
The pink shoes in the picture below are the culprits. I wanted to do the base in Deadpool comic, but no way in Marvel Universe will I wear Barbie pink heels. You simply can not put Wade's comics next to pink...it's illegal. Why not cover the hideous neon pink with glitter? As long as you obey what I like to call "The Glitter Rules" you will be all set.

Everything you need is in the photo! Extra Fine Glitter, Mod Podge, Tape,  Brushes, and Sand Paper!

Glitter Rules

1. Use "Extra Fine" glitter. Do not use the large chunky piece glitter.

2. Be sure you have enough of the same color glitter for the whole job. I noticed a lot of sold out colors at Michael's and they do not restock very often :(

Mask off the areas you do NOT want glitter on with tape. This is extremely important and will save you if you get lazy like I did and glop too much on.

Taped off the little heel stopper and the base so no glitter gets on them.

 Why, yes! Those are my comic nails from last tutorial! Thanks for asking. What's that? Yes... Yes it did make it extremely difficult to decorate shoes.

Taped all around the heel so that only the heel will be glittered

Take sand paper and scratch up the surface you want the glitter/paste to adhere to. I found the better sanded areas worked much better, be sure to go over all the spaces you will be glittering. Wipe off any dust with a damp paper towel.

Sanding will ensure a good adhering of glitter paste

As for the actual applying glitter to the shoe.....two ways I have seen. 1. Apply an even coat of mod podge to the shoe area you wish to glitter, then sprinkle the glitter over it until it is evenly coated and let dry. To me, this seemed like a huge mess, and a potential waste of glitter, or 2. Mix glitter and mod podge and paint on the areas of the shoe you wish to glitter. The only difference being painting on the mixed glitter and mod podge can get little clumps on the surface of the shoe, so be sure to paint them smooth.
I obviously chose to paint on the glitter, so here's how I did it:
I took 1/4 cup of extra fine glitter in blue (for the blue heels you will need more if you are coating a whole pair, I used 3/4 cup glitter for the pink ones) and poured in a tablespoon of mod podge in, mixed it together with the other end of the paint brush I used, you want to make sure you have a good mix, not too runny and not too chunky.

As you can see I left a little dry glitter towards one end so I could see which consistency was better. The consistency near the paint brush is good.

Now brush it on the shoe evenly, even if you see spaces where the glitter missed, let that coat dry and go back for another coat, if you don't it ends up a tad less smooth.

Nice even coats! HINT You end up using less if you choose the same color glitter as  the shoe.

After you coat the shoe completely with as many layers as it takes to fully glitter it up, wait for it to dry, cover the rest of the shoe (even the interior) and spray the glittered area with a gloss coat, and hurry up and wait for that to dry as well.

Pre-Gloss Coat

Now you can leave the shoes as they are, you can turn them into a themed shoe....this blue one for example is a prime suspect for a Tardis or R2D2 theme, however, they will most likely become comic oriented shoes, Tutorial found here: Nerdalicious Shoes just as the pink ones will become Deadpool shoes. I will of course put pictures up of the works in progress and finished products. I have two pairs of shoes people have requested (one is Marvel...really excited!)